My Love Lies Beneath These Trees
by Queen of the Dark Knight
Summary: After the whole thing with Lucifer and Michael, Jack's newly regained powers are going haywire and leave him stranded in a meadow. There, he finds a strange girl and, just maybe, some semblance of peace. Jack/OFC. Cross-posted to Ao3


A/N: Story is set after the season 13 finale and is based in part on the premise that Jack, like the angels, can slowly restore his grace.

In the months after Lucifer died and Michael disappeared with Dean's body, Sam, Jack, Cas, Mary, and Bobby do nothing but research. They try to find where Dean's body is; they try to find ways of killing an angel without a vessel; they try to figure out what Michael's master plan is. But Michael is either lying low or better at hiding his tracks than they are at finding them, and so they're left reading the same texts over and over again, hoping something will shift and reveal itself.

Mary is the first to succumb to cabin fever, and she and Bobby begin to hunt demons and monsters. At first it's just on weekends, then it's just on weekdays, but pretty soon they're rarely in the bunker at all. Jack hears her explain to Sam in low tones that it's too painful for her to be where Dean was when he's not there anymore. She says that she's more useful on the road, more likely to run into a lead if she's not trapped in the library. Jack swears he can hear Sam's jaw clenching, can feel the shape of the words Sam's swallowing down.

Cas is the next to vanish. He says Heaven is dying, that so many angels have died that there isn't enough power to keep the lights on. He's searching for a cure, a solution, a way to make more angels and keep on the lights. Jack thinks it's stupid. Heaven doesn't sound that good anyways. It's just a place where you rewatch the same memories on loop until the heat death of the universe. But Cas feels that he's more useful saving heaven than looking for his lost friend and his face is so sad that Jack doesn't make this opinion known.

Sam doesn't leave the bunker, but he vanishes all the same. Jack needs less and less sleep as his grace slowly regrows inside of him, but no matter how early he wakes or how late he goes to bed, Sam is up and reading. He wakes up in the middle of the night, hearing Sam on the phone to Rowena or to some occult expert. Sam wouldn't eat if Jack didn't force him to. Sam's eyes are red and Jack doesn't know if it's because he won't sleep or if it's because he cries when he thinks Jack can't hear him.

Sam is relieved when Jack tells him his grace is coming back. Jack is happy because if he has his powers back, maybe he can help more than getting the groceries and re-reading the same giant book over and over again. But Jack also knows that Sam is relieved because this way, if Dean dies and Sam goes with him (and there is no question in Jack's mind: if they can't save Dean Winchester and have to kill him to save the world, Sam won't be far behind), Jack will survive.

Jack doesn't know how to describe the sick feeling that thought stirs in him.

It takes a long while, but eventually Jack's grace returns. It's not quite at the level it was when Lucifer took it from him, but it's enough that he needs to start practicing again. His powers feel foreign and he struggles with them in a way he hasn't since the time immediately after his birth.

"You're just out of practice Jack," Sam tells him. Jack knows, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating to be unable to lift a single pencil.

Sam suggests a break. They can go work a case or something, he tells Jack. Jack doesn't miss Sam's glance at the newest book he's just gotten from a cardinal who owes the Winchesters some favor or another.

"A change of scenery helped last time." Jack tells Sam. "I figured my powers out then, maybe it'll help this time too."

He packs a bag and makes sure Mary and Ketch and Charlie and Rowena know to stop by the bunker every few days to make sure Sam eats and sleeps once in a while. Sam hugs him tightly in the bunker and puts a strange amulet around Jack's neck. "Chuck, uh, returned this to me before he and Amara left. You should have it until Dean gets back."

Jack doesn't understand the significance, but he assumes it was Dean's once and so he'll treasure it until he can return it to its rightful owner.

Jack reassures Sam he'll check in every day and they hug again before Jack steps back, closes his eyes, and thinks of going to a place where he's needed.

He vanishes, and Sam is left alone in a bunker crowded with memories of his brother.

Jack reappears about twenty feet in the air and plummets straight into the ground. Nothing is damaged that his magical healing doesn't fix in minutes, but Jack just wants to lay there for a bit.

He stares up at the blue sky, annoyed that it is so clear. If he really is such a powerful creature, the weather should change itself to fit his mood. It should be cloudy and rainy and depressing, not bright and cheerful. His mood worsens the longer he stares at the sky, thinking of how Lucifer tricked and hurt him, how his mother died and abandoned him, how Mary still can't be what Sam needs her to be, how Cas left them to help heaven of all places, how Sam is so depressed he can barely function, how his own stupid powers aren't working. He knows he's wallowing and wallowing plus his powers is generally not a good combination, but he's spent the last few months forcing himself to be optimistic and strong, and now he finally gets to be honest with himself.

"Whatch'ya doing?"

Jack flinches in surprise, as a face suddenly appears in the sky above him. It is a girl with pale skin and long brown curls.

"Who are you?" Jack asks, pushing himself into a sitting position and twisting to look at her.

"Emma. Who are you?" Much like the sky, her voice is also irritatingly bright and cheerful.

"Jack." He pauses for a second, trying to think of a way to get the girl to leave him alone. "You should really leave me alone."

She hums thoughtfully for a second. "I'm not going to do that."

"Well why not."

"For starters, this is my field and those are my woods over there," she gestures at a smallish clump of trees on the edge of the meadow. "And you look like you need a friend."

Jack is quickly becoming exasperated. "What does that even mean?"

Emma's smile becomes small and sad. "You look lonely and like you think too much." Jack makes a face at her. "Look, I just know these kinds of things okay? Not many people show up here unless they're sad and in need of a friend."

Still annoyed by her, but somewhat touched at her concern despite himself, Jack figures that the best thing to do was try to be straight with the weird girl. "Look, I am dangerous."

Emma laughs. "I really doubt that Jack. Plus, ain't much I can't handle nowadays."

"I find you…confusing."

Instead of explaining what she just said, Emma grabs his hands and pulls him to his feet. She is surprisingly strong for such a slight girl. She lets go of his hands once he is vertical, and began walking away from the woods towards the road.

"Come on." She calls back to him. "I'll tell you where to go."

Jack follows, wondering vaguely how she'd known he wasn't behind her when she hadn't turned around to look.

She stops at the wooden fence twenty yards or so from the edge of the road. "Town's about a mile that way," she says, pointing to the right. "If you think you might be here a while, Jo's Diner and Mac's Hardware Store are always looking for some help and they ain't exactly fussy about where they get it. There's a little bed and breakfast that's usually pretty cheap, especially if you're willing to help Lester out, but if you talk to the Missy at the library she might be able to get you a bed at the local youths shelter."

Jack nods. "Thanks Emma."

"Oh and before you go," suddenly her hand is on his arm and her nails are digging into the skin. "Don't tell them I'm the one who sent you. It's a small town with big troubles and let's just say there's a reason I'm up here and not down there."

Emma still confuses Jack, but he's dealt with weirder all the time with the Winchesters. "Okay Emma, I won't."

Her grip relaxes and Jack jumps over the fence with ease. He's at the road before he looks back to see Emma staring resolutely at the ground, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Jack isn't sure what possesses him, but he shouts back to her, "Hey, Emma! I'll come by tomorrow and tell you how it goes!"

Emma looks up at him in shock, before grinning and laughing.

The next time Jack looks back, a few feet later, Emma is gone. He shrugs before turning back to the road and resolutely marching towards town.

He's dealt with much stranger things before.

Jack returns to the meadow at nine the next morning. He's greeted by the sight of Emma perched on the fence, her blue dress and hair moving in the breeze. Her eyes are closed and her face is titled up towards the sun.

"So you were right." He says in greeting.

Emma's eyes open, and Jack is once again subject to the full force of her blinding smile. "I'm always right silly, you gotta be more specific."

"Missy got me a free bed starting tonight and let me sleep on her couch last night in exchange for helping her reshelf books this morning."

"Missy's great like that." Emma agrees.

"And I'm going to be waiting tables at Jo's during the dinner shift."

Emma's smile somehow grows even brighter, and Jack feels a curious heat in his face.

They pass a few hours in companionship, Emma imparting random wisdom about the various folks in town, and Jack doing his best to talk about his family without accidently revealing the truth about the supernatural.

Around noon, Emma turns to him, voice still jovial. "So wanna tell me how you appeared in the air a good twenty feet off the ground?"

"I uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

Emma rolls her eyes at him. "Look Jack, I know that there are somethings out there that don't exactly fall within the realm of normal human behavior. I don't have a lot to do but wander around and hope something interesting will happen. So, when a random, normal-ish boy appears out of _thin air, twenty feet off the ground_ , I'm going to notice."

Dread fills Jack. He can run, but he hasn't felt his powers since he landed in the meadow the day before, and it takes money to travel without magically teleporting. Theoretically, Sam could come and get him but it's only been a full day and he hates the idea of having Sam fight his battles for him. He can lie, but he can't think of any reasonable explanation. And he is still trying his best to be a good person and he's pretty sure good people don't lie.

That leaves telling the truth.

"Would you believe me if I told you my father was an angel?"

Emma stares at him for a long moment, clearly reading the truth on Jack's face. "I'd believe a great many things, Jack."

"Okay then. My father is an angel and my mother was a human and that makes me a Nephilim." He pauses before figuring he might as well continue. "I have…. special powers and I can't really control them yet."

"So that's why you said you were dangerous yesterday?"

"Yes. I've…hurt people in the past."

Emma looks away and hums softly to herself, an act that Jack quickly learned she wasn't aware of and usually meant she was thinking deeply about something. Her voice is soft. "You said your mother _was_ human?"

"Yes, she…died when I was born." Jack is more than aware that his confusion is evident on his face as he stares at Emma. "I'm sorry, I just told you I have magical powers and I've hurt people in the past, how are you not worried?"

Emma shrugs. "Like I said, there's not a lot that I can't handle."

"You are… a strange person, Emma."

She grins widely, darting a glance at him from the corner of her eye. "I've been told much worse things than that Jack."

They talk about lighter subjects for a little while, before Emma shoos him away, laughing that he'll be late for his very first shift of work ever, and how that's not really a great start to his career of being human.

This time, Emma doesn't disappear until he's five minutes down the road. He's not sure why, but he thinks that's progress.

Over the next few weeks, they fall into an easy sort of pattern. During the mornings, Jack visits with Emma in her meadow and they talk and chase each other through the grass. He brings her books to read, a wide array of suggestions from Missy. No matter how thick they are, Emma always has them done by the next morning, along with spirited opinions on the characters and plot.

During the afternoons, Jack works his shift at the diner. During evenings, he calls Sam and lets the older man fuss over him. "Do you need me to come and get you?" He asks at the end of every call. "I know you're powers are still on the fritz a little, I can drive and pick you up."

Jack's seen the expression on Sam's face when he looks at the Impala, so he tells Sam that he's fine. Plus, Jack has a feeling that he can't leave this town yet.

It feels like there's lightning about to strike here.

He doesn't tell Sam that.

Sam would just worry and come to drag Jack home.

Jack starts practicing his powers around Emma. He floats sticks and rocks, and one time he creates a stick figure that waltzes with her. She never is anything other than absolutely delighted at his shows of power, even when they only work for a second or two or when something explodes with electricity and nearly hits her.

One morning she's making something she calls a flower crown. She creates a chain of daises and then starts adding buttercups and cranesbills and lupine and bluebells. She tells him what each flower is and what it can be used for as she adds it to the crown growing in her lap.

She begins another one chain of daisies and Jack is confused where it's supposed to go right up until Emma picks up the first and leans towards him. She carefully nestles it in his hair, and a now more familiar warmth rushes to Jack's cheeks.

"What's your favorite flower?" He asks her, trying to stop the waver in his voice.

"My mom had planted these orange day lilies outside our house where I grew up. Each flower only blooms for one day before it dies, but it's so beautiful for the time it's alive." Her voice is wistful, and Jack want's to ask why she lives out here instead of with her mom. But moms can be difficult subjects, Jack's learned, so he doesn't ask.

Instead, he closes his eyes, slows his breathing, and concentrates. Beside them, a small sprout appears, followed by another and another. They rise up, growing at an accelerated rate, as buds form and elongate before gently opening, displaying their orange petals.

Jack opens his eyes as Emma inhales shakily, and he can't help but notice the wetness in her eyes. She breaths deeply, reaching a hand out to trace one perfect petal, before a smile blooms across her face.

"Thank you Jack."

"They'll still die tomorrow though." He tells her sadly. "I just transported the seeds here and sped things up a bit."

"They're perfect. And," she says, reaching for one of the blooms, "if they're going to die tomorrow, I don't have to feel bad about picking them for my crown."

She finishes her flower crown and declares them King and Queen of the meadow. They hold fake court and she teaches him how to dance a little bit, humming music for them between instructions. She tells Jack to come back later at night, because she wants him to see how pretty the stars are. She tells him to bring s'more materials.

It is, Jack thinks, an absolutely perfect day. Even his shift at the diner isn't so bad now that he's learned the ropes, and Sam actually sounds enthusiastic during their phone call. Someone managed to dig up another angel tablet and Rowena and Cas think between the two of them, they might be able to fix enough of Donatello's brain that he'll be able to read it.

He's got enough control over his powers now to teleport himself from the alley beside the small general store where he got the supplies for tonight directly to the road by Emma's field.

Like usual, she's waiting by the wooden fence. She's wearing the same dress she was earlier but the effect of the white peasant dress is so much greater under the moonlight. She looks pale and ephemeral and suddenly, Jack's hands feel clammy and damp. He's uncomfortably aware that he's just wearing an off-white Henley under an unbuttoned flannel, and he's suddenly struck with the urge to magically change his clothing.

Emma waves him over and he goes willingly.

She grabs his hand, entwining her fingers with his, as she leads him up the slight hill to a clearly designated fire pit. She's already gathered wood and twigs and it's just a second's concentration for him to set it alight.

They roast marshmallows and tell each other increasingly silly ghost stories.

Emma flops backwards in the grass, holding her ribs and laughing that he's hurting her ribs. When her giggling stops, she sighs happily.

"This is what I wanted to show you." She says, pointing at the sky. Jack carefully lies down beside her, cognizant of the distance between them.

The view is beautiful. The inky dark blue sky is dotted with thousands of stars. When Lucifer promised to save Maddie if Jack traveled the universe with him, the stars were interesting promises of worlds that could be, that were well within his reach.

Now they extend well beyond his vision, and he feels small and powerless looking up at them. It's both humbling and more than a little frightening, right up until Emma shifts her arm and it brushes up against his elbow. Suddenly reminded of her presence, Jack finds a small scrap of courage and takes her hand in his.

The comfortable weight of her fingers grounds him. The stars are still so distant and out of reach and he still feels small in comparison to the rest of the universe, but now the thought isn't so overwhelming.

He may be a being of extraordinary power that will never quite be fully human or angel, but he isn't the biggest thing around. The thought comforts him, that no matter what he does there is some part of the universe he won't affect. No matter how out of control his powers are, no matter who tries to steal them next, there are some things that will continue on.

Bolstered by this, Jack turns his face away from the sky and towards Emma.

 _She really is beautiful_ , he thinks. It's not just that her face is aesthetically pleasing, but it's the way she laughs with her full body, the way she doesn't notice that she hums when she thinks, the way she's always so quick to stop him from overthinking.

She must feel his eyes on her, because she pulls her eyes away from the night sky and meets his. His eyes dart down towards her mouth and suddenly Cas's awkward attempts at explaining intercourse and Dean's enthusiastic explanation of how to "pick up chicks" spring to mind. It's Sam's advice that sticks with him though.

"Look, if you like a girl, or a boy, or whoever, you don't need to try to impress them or do whatever the hell Dean told you to do. You just gotta do what feels right."

Jack didn't understand any of what Sam was saying at the time, but now it's clicked. He leans forward and licks his lips uncertainly. Emma's trying to bite back the smile that's starting to curl the corners of her mouth but she looks happy and not like she's laughing at him.

Jack's lips are a centimeter away from hers when the sound of crunching gravel reaches them. The air temperature suddenly drops and Jack can see his breath as the fire immediately dies. Emma is frozen next to him, her eyes on something behind Jack, down towards the road.

Jack turns around to see what she's staring at, spots the red pick-up truck that's traveling along the gravel drive that leads into the woods on the side of Emma's meadow.

When he turns back to ask her what's going on, Emma has vanished.

Jack shoots up to his feet, frantically looking around for her. He finally spots her about thirty yards away, walking towards the truck.

He starts running after her, only to stumble when she flickers and vanishes, reappearing farther away.

He rights himself, mind working in double time to process what he's seeing. Her white dress is suddenly grey and muddy and torn and she no longer glows but instead is flickering in and out of existence.

After the first week in town, Jack had never bothered to wonder why he never saw a house where Emma lived or why she was always in the meadow.

Jack sees Emma standing on the edge of the woods, suddenly still. She looks like she's debating something and Jack keeps running towards her.

 _If she's a ghost, she could hurt someone._ He thinks. Another part of his brain whispers. _If she's a ghost, she could have good reason._

But Emma only hesitates for a moment before she strides into the trees and Jack looses sight of her.

That doesn't stop him from trying to follow her though, but he quickly becomes turned around in the woods. After too many minutes running aimlessly, Jack quite literally stumbles onto the dirt pathway. Figuring Emma must be after whoever was driving that truck, he starts running along it.

The path doesn't go on for much longer. It ends at a small, old-looking wood cabin. The lights are on inside but Jack doesn't hear any screaming. He frantically scans the edge of the woods around the cabin, and finally spots Emma- _the ghost_ \- standing between two massive trees to the right of the cabin.

He silently moves towards her. She doesn't start when he comes up behind her, just continues to stare at the man Jack can see through the uncovered window.

He's an older man, and it looks like he's rearranging some furniture or something in his living room.

"Emma?" Jack asks eventually. "Emma, what's going on."

She doesn't answer for a long moment. "That's the man that killed me." She finally admits. "He killed me and now he will burn."

Her voice is firm and resolute, but she makes no move towards the house.

Part of Jack wants to go into the house and kill the stranger. It's the same part of him that beat up the poor, innocent gas station worker after Maddie died. The part of him that just wants to be a normal person says to call the police. The part of him that he thinks is Lucifer whispers that he should let her get her vengeance, that it will be bloody and wet and _fun_.

Jack doesn't know what to do.

So he turns to Emma and asks her to stay there for a moment.

Then he vanishes and reappears in the bunker.

It's a moment's work for Jack to grab Sam, convince him that he needs help, and teleport them back to the woods where Emma is still waiting, still staring at the strange man through the window of his living room.

"Emma?" Sam asks. "Jack's told me a little about you." Emma doesn't move, doesn't even look at Sam. Her gaze is vacant and Jack doubts she even sees the man in the house anymore. Sam purses his lips together and his brow furrows as he studies her. "Emma," he begins again, offering an up-turned palm towards her. "Why don't we go talk somewhere."

Emma turns her eyes towards Sam and searches his face for something. There's a desperate look on her face that Jack's never seen on her before, but she finally nods and puts her hand in Sam's.

Sam leads her through the woods until they're back in the meadow. Emma somehow looks more solid here, more real, and she frowns down at her dress, as if she suddenly realized it was coated in dirt and blood. She let go of Sam's hand and tugs on the dress sharply once, twice, and the fabric ripples.

She's now wearing loose jeans and a thick, oversized sweater. The sleeves cover her hands and she tucks them under her arms, making herself as small as possible as she hunches over.

She still hasn't said anything since she told Jack the man would burn.

She turns suddenly away from them and walks down towards the wooden fence. She sits on it the way Jack's seen her sit more than a dozen times by now, threading her legs over the bottom rung and bracing her arms on the top.

Sam follows her, stepping over the fence before mimicking her. Jack makes to join the two of them, but Sam shakes his head imperceptibly at him.

He wants to help Emma, to comfort her, but Sam is usually right about these kinds of things so Jack stays put. He's far enough away from them that he can only hear that they're talking, but can't make out the actual words.

He recognizes Sam's sad, horrified face however. It's the same look he had every time they talked about Mary being in Apocalypse Land. It's not as bad as Sam's "Dean's gone and I don't know how to live without him" face, but whatever Emma is saying is bad enough that Sam is clearly grieving with her.

It feels like forever that they talk, but when they finally return to Jack, his watch says it's only been ten minutes.

Emma inhales shakily, and her eyes are red like she's been crying. (Jack ignores the voice in his head that snarks that ghosts can't cry, she's just a faker like everyone else in the world). "I'm sorry you had to see all that Jack." She says. "I'm sorry I never told you the truth."

Jack wants to tell her that it's alright, that he understands, but he doesn't trust his voice not to break on the lie. He tells the truth instead. "I'm sorry you're dead."

She laughs, but the sound isn't bright and cheery but rather wet and broken. "Me too." She breathes deeply even though her chest still quakes. "I should tell you what happened."

Sam, Jack, and Emma settle in a circle around the remnants of the fire.

"My dad died in a freak accident when I was a kid, so growing up it was just me and my mom. A few years ago, she found out she had breast cancer. It was bad and we didn't have any sort of money to get treatment. She managed to get into some free experimental program, but she had to go to New York City to get it and we didn't have enough money for me to live with her for all the months she'd be there. So I stayed here, took care of the house, went to school, and worked at the diner and at Mac's to make a little extra money.

"It's a small town, so everyone was really understanding and tried to help out where they could. But then the man came. No one really seemed to know his name, or if they did, no one used it. They'd just say ' _that man_ stopped by' or 'I had to deliver food to _him_.' My dad was the one originally from here so my mom had no idea when I called to tell her about the stranger. No one would tell me anything other than to stay away from him.

"They were really serious so I did my best to stay away. I had so much to do between school and work and fixing up the house that it wasn't really a problem.

"But then one night, I forgot my keys at the diner and had to walk all the way back to get them. It wasn't a far walk but it was almost midnight and it seemed to take forever. When I got there, the man was standing in the doorway with my keys on his finger. It was odd because I didn't remember seeing him in the diner at all, but he gave them back to me so I figured that was that.

"The next night when I unlocked my front door, he was waiting for me. He grabbed me, tied me up, and dragged me into his truck. He brought me to that cabin and threw me in the basement. For the next three days he did all sorts of horrible things to me."

Emma's voice is flat and her gaze is glassy. She refuses to look at Jack and he thinks that's probably for the best. He can't keep the horror and the pity off of his face and he doesn't want her to see it.

"On the fourth sunrise he killed me. He dragged my body out of the house and buried me in the woods."

Emma falls silent for a long moment before continuing. "The worst part was that he never bothered to gag me. I screamed and begged for help as he drove me all through town and nobody tried to stop him. Nobody even tried to look for my body so my momma would have something to bury."

They all sit in silence for a minute. "You're not like other ghosts I've seen." Jack finally ventures.

Emma shrugs. "I haven't met any other ghosts, so I wouldn't know. But the townsfolk are always talking about fae and fairies rings, and I think he accidentally buried me in one. After I woke up, I couldn't leave the forest, but I kept pushing it and day after day I managed to extend my range to the meadow. I can't go past the fence, but I felt more free out here than in there."

Jack nods like any of this made any sense.

Sam speaks up. "Emma, do you know if there's anything supernatural about him?"

Emma pauses, thinking intently. "I don't know. I don't feel anything coming off of him the way I do with Jack, and he's gotten older since last time."

Sam nods. "Then there's a chance he's just human. Obviously, the people in town aren't going to do anything or they wouldn't have let this happen in the first place."

"I think," Emma hesitates. "I think when he was…kidnapping me, he said something about me being an outsider and being fair game. And later he kept talking about some sort of sacrifice? I don't remember much from those days to be honest."

"That's okay," Sam says reassuringly. "You don't need to try to remember anything."

Something about the fourth sunrise bugs Jack. He frowns, trying to remember what it is. Finally it clicks. "Wait, Emma, did he have any tattoos or anything that looked like this?"

He scratches the complicated rune in the dirt between them. It's two overlapping pentagrams surrounded by an ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail.

Emma's brow furrows in confusion as she squints in order to see it. "Y-yes? I think-," her eyes suddenly widen. "Yes! He had a tattoo on his back that I never really figure out, but he definitely had that pendant around his neck!"

"I read about it in one of the Men of Letter compendiums, Sam. It's a symbol for some ancient chaos god. His followers would have his symbol somewhere on their bodies, and they would store the pain of those they have tortured in the rune. They had to complete the ritual over the course of three days, usually marked from sunrise to sunrise. They then offer up the pain in the symbol in exchange for five years of power."

"It fits with the timeline," Sam agrees. "It also means that he's got to be looking for another victim."

Emma's still staring at the rune. Her voice is quiet but steady. "Can we stop him before he hurts anyone else?"

"We will." Jack tells her, with greater confidence than he feels. His track record at protecting people has been pretty awful lately, but Emma needs the comfort.

She inhales and lifts her head, her gaze firm and steady. "Then let's figure out a plan."

The plan turns out to be quite simple. Sam and Jack sneak up to the back of the house and then Emma gets to scare the living crap out of her murderer. If she can yank the symbol off of him, thus severing him from the source of his power, then great. They'll turn him over to the authorities and explain he's now powerless and there's nothing to be afraid of.

If she can't get the necklace off of him, or if he's got a backup rune, then Jack and Sam kill him.

Like usual, nothing goes to plan. First of all, the necklace and chain are both iron and Emma can't try to remove it sneakily while he watches television. Secondly, Emma appearing in front of him in her "true" form with her ratty clothes and decaying face barely makes him blink.

"Was wondering when you'd show up darling," he drawls, before leaping to his feet and trying to tackle her.

It turns out he knew exactly what he was doing when he buried Emma in a fairy ring. He manages to corner her in the salt trap he'd set up when he'd moved all the furniture around earlier.

Emma is quick enough on her feet to get him monologuing when she notices Sam and Jack outside and he explains his entire plan. Jack can hear him through the thin back door as Sam slowly picks the lock, careful of creating any noise.

Apparently, burying a ghost in a place of magic strengthens the ghost, giving it the energy to be human enough to work as another sacrifice to his unnamed god.

He's just gotten around to the part where he extols how lucky she is that her pain will be sacrificed not once but twice to his great god of mischief and misery, when Sam tries to knock him out with a pistol to the back of the head.

It doesn't go well and suddenly Sam's blasted across the room. The unnamed man follows Sam as he staggers back to his feet, missing Jack where he's ducked behind the couch. Jack sneaks over to Emma and easily picks up the hula-hoop full of salt. It's almost an ingenious idea and he makes a mental note to send it back to the bunker with Sam.

The second she's free, Emma vanishes and reappears by the two tussling men. Headless of the iron around his neck, she throws her arms around the man's neck. When her arms start to smoke and burn she keeps holding him as he gasps and flails. Jack quickly uses his powers to freeze the man and Sam's quick to reach over and rip the amulet away from him.

The resulting magical explosion sends all of them flying across the room.

After the smoke clears, Jack and Sam sit up to find Emma staring down at her now-dead murderer. His body is charred and half of his chest is missing from the explosion, but he's most certainly dead.

Emma is talking to someone he can't see. "Why would I know that?" She frowns and rolls her eyes. "Duh, I'm dead. You think a living person can look this good immediately after an explosion?" She laughs at whatever the response is, before looking over at Jack fondly. "I think I've got a few more things to take care of before I can go with you."

Something her invisible conversation partner says makes Emma's face drop. There are tears in her eyes. "Yeah I figured. Is there…if I go with you do I get to see her?" Her face drops some more. "That uh, sounds like a shitty system, no offense. But yeah… I'll call you when I'm ready."

It's Sam who breaks the silence. "Reaper?"

"Yeah." Emma's voice cracks. "She wants me to go with her, but I asked for a bit more time. To say goodbye, you know."

Jack feels his heart drop. He's not sure what he had been hoping for, that maybe he could bring Emma back or they could stay in her meadow for eternity or a million other possibilities that didn't involve her leaving him.

"Heaven seems like kind of a raw deal though. Not getting to see the people you love again, just being stuck with the memory of them?"

Sam shrugs half-heartedly. "It's not the worst thing in the world." Jack knows Sam's thinking of Dean and the memories they'll share in Heaven. Emma doesn't look convinced.

They leave the dead and charred body there in the living room as they file out of the house. Without discussing it, they all walk towards the meadow and sit around the dead campfire once more.

Jack's bag of supplies is still there, mostly unused. Without asking the others, he re-ignites the fire, tosses the bag of marshmallows to Sam, and lowers his voice as deep as he can.

"Let me tell you the real story of the murderous Easter bunny."

Emma laughs and for the next few hours, Jack gets to pretend his perfect day doesn't end with the girl he loves being a ghost. They make s'mores and get Sam to make up crazy fake ghost stories and crazier true ones. Emma waltzes with Jack and tries to teach Sam how to swing dance, laughing every time he has to try to duck under her arm but passes through it instead.

For a while, Jack gets to be happy.

The sky finally begins to lighten, and all three of them sit in a line in the meadow facing the sunrise. It is such a beautiful sight but Jack doesn't appreciate it at all.

The sun is just beginning to appear over the horizon when Emma speaks. "The reaper told me my mom died two years ago."

"I'm sorry." Sam says.

"Me too." She says. "I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye, that that chance was taken away from me. I'm sorry I met you both as a ghost. I'm sorry that we probably wouldn't have met if I was alive." She sniffs loudly. "I'm sorry about a lot of things." She gets to her feet slowly and the two boys follow her. "I think it's time for me to go."

Sam wraps her in a hug, leaning down to rest his cheek on her hair. "You're a good kid Emma."

"Thanks, Sam," she says, squeezing her eyes shut. "Don't worry you'll find Dean soon and then you'll find a way to save him."

He lets go of her. "How do you…?"

She smiles up at him, grin wide and easy and brilliant. "I just know these kinds of things." Jack thinks of how she knew he was lonely and how she knew the monster in the cabin would burn, and he sees a small kernel of hope being planted inside of Sam where before there was none.

Sam swallows and nods at Emma and she turns towards Jack.

Her smile only falters for a second. "Jack I'm sorry I have to go."

"Don't be." He says, resolutely ignoring the way his eyes burn and his voice cracks.

"I'm sorry that I dragged you into all of this."

"What?"

"That day, when you fell into my meadow? I didn't pray a lot in life, but that day I did. I prayed that someone would come and help me and then a half-human magical boy literally appeared in the air." She smiles at him gently, and takes a small step forward. Jack is barely aware of Sam turning away awkwardly. "You're one of the best things that has ever happened to me Jack. If heaven is just a person's happy memories, then I'll get to spend a lot of time with you and I'm not at all sorry for that."

She leans forward and in the split second between her words and their first kiss, Jack realizes what he has to do. It's only a second's work to rearrange the universe and then he's left with the feeling of her lips on his and he just lets himself enjoy the moment.

She pulls away, a faint blush staining her cheeks as she grins.

"Tessa?" She calls. The brown haired reaper appears in front of them and Emma steps forward to take her hand.

She laughs brightly, turning to look at Sam and Jack. "Don't forget me boys."

Tessa smiles. "Fat chance of that girlie, the Nephilim just remade heaven for you."

Emma blinks at Jack in shock, smile still stretched wide across her face, before she disappears in a flash of golden light.

Sam turns to Jack. "What did she mean, remade heaven?"

Jack smiles. "I'll tell you about it at home," he says, before taking Sam's hand and transporting them back to the bunker.

Far above them in a different realm, Jack can hear the brightest laughter and the happiest tears as Emma and her mother are reunited in a beautiful meadow under a clear blue sky.

A/N: Originally, I wrote this around the idea of Jack having an honest conversation with Emma about why suffering isn't always an inherently bad thing, but as the story took developed it made less sense for her character especially when she's in such a vulnerable place. It's a conversation that may happen later, when she's had the chance to recover from her death and the years she spent alone in the field.

Regarding Heaven, the idea that each person has their own personal heaven that's just a rerun of their happiest memories never really sat right with me. I agree with with Mary's statement to Apocalypse Land!Keven, that it's not really real. I figured if anyone could restructure heaven, it would be Jack. Also the angels are going to be so confused. Just super confused. It's gonna be great.


End file.
